Transmigrated as the Scum Alpha in a Farming Novel (GL) - Chapter 4

Just as Yu An was at a loss for how to deal with Widow Cui, a familiar yet strange memory flooded into Yu An’s mind.

The sheer volume of information made her mind go blank for a moment, her vision swam, and she nearly lost her footing.

Yu An hadn’t even absorbed the information yet, but Widow Cui was already anxious.

Watching the person in front of her suddenly turn pale, sway, and spill the water bucket, she felt a strong sense of panic.

Yu An was not someone with a good reputation. Besides being a flirt and a compulsive gambler, who could say whether she wouldn’t try to extort people?

In a rush, Widow Cui started lying: “I have food cooking at home, so I can’t talk to you now. Let’s chat another day.”

With that, she swayed her snake-like waist and left.

Yu An, at this moment, had even less time to bother with her. She was busy sorting through her memories. When she came to, Widow Cui was long gone, leaving only a spilled water bucket and a group of curious Kun Zes.

She felt both a sense of lament and relief.

If those memories hadn’t arrived just now, making her dizzy, she truly wouldn’t have known how to face Widow Cui.

Those memories were mostly general knowledge.

For example, Yuanze Village was the village Yu An was in, and the river in front of her was the mother river of Yuanze, also called Yuanze River.

Another example was the current dynasty, the Great Min Dynasty, a dynasty she had never heard of, yet there were clues: decades earlier, it should have been the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and the Great Min Dynasty had replaced the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Yu An occasionally read history books or learned a bit from TV, but she didn’t know much specific information.

And even if she did, it wouldn’t be very useful right now, as the era was fictionalized, and its development was still unknown.

For example, in this society, the main labor force consisted of Qian Yuan and male Zhong Yong, which meant ordinary men.

The status of ordinary female Zhong Yong was even lower than that of Kun Ze. Palaces or powerful people preferred to marry Kun Ze ladies as wives or concubines; only a few would marry Zhong Yong.

Qian Yuan and Kun Ze had a common characteristic—estrus cycle—hence their marriage rate was the highest.

There were also some fragmented introductions to the original novel, which filled in what Yu An hadn’t read. For instance, the original owner’s age was also 20, a female Qian Yuan, who favored Kun Ze, specifically Kun Zes older than her. Liu Huaixu was five years older than her, and the widow and courtesan were even older. Only the village head’s daughter, Cao Guan, was younger.

Besides these, Yu An also regularly frequented brothels and gambling dens, and was a notorious good-for-nothing in Yuanze Village.

She didn’t have much money, but by having many Kun Zes, she lived a decent life.

Only Liu Huaixu, who was said to be conquered, was not entirely so.

After all, this was an erotic novel, so they definitely had s3x, but at the end, Liu Huaixu was not among those who lived a shameless life with the original owner.

She left with a Jie Yuan (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations) who hadn’t appeared much in the early chapters.

The memories were just fragments. Yu An sorted through them and found that even the name of that Jie Yuan was missing.

Although these memories were incomplete, they were better than nothing. They were somewhat more useful than trying to understand this world the hard way.

—

Yu An scooped another bucket of water and started walking home according to her memories.

But as she walked, Yu An noticed something was off.

She hadn’t read much of the original novel, but she specifically remembered the part about the original owner and Widow Cui.

The timeline was roughly around this time. Yu An had hooked up with Widow Cui a few days ago, and they had arranged to meet today near the river, where the original owner had her first sexual encounter.

But when she arrived, she was already knocked unconscious, and the woman in front of her was Cao Guan, not Widow Cui at all.

If she hadn’t remembered wrong, then the novel must have been rewritten.

That meant she might be able to shed her “scum” identity.

This thought significantly improved Yu An’s mood. If you’re going to transmigrate, who wants to be a scum?

Especially since Yu An considered herself a good, upright young person. Aside from having a high school crush on the class beauty from the next class, she had no scandalous news whatsoever. It was impossible for her to do such messy things…

Although she shared the same name, the self-respecting Yu An found the original owner utterly incomprehensible.

Huaixu’s appearance was perfectly to her taste, so how could the original owner neglect her beautiful and charming wife and instead flirt with those widows and courtesans?

If it were her… wasn’t the cool-type elder sister appealing enough?

Of course, Yu An didn’t have so many thoughts right now; she just felt that since she couldn’t go back, improving her relationship with Liu Huaixu was the most important thing!

This good thought didn’t last too long. When she stepped through the door and saw Liu Huaixu’s cold face, she suddenly felt that the task ahead was arduous and the road ahead was long.

Liu Huaixu had been waiting for Yu An ever since she left, but instead of Yu An, she waited for Widow Cui to arrive.

Widow Cui, returning home from the river, would inevitably pass by her house. That woman had ill intentions. Seeing Liu Huaixu standing at the door, she put her hands on her hips and started yelling, “Sister Huaixu, you really need to control your Qian Jun. What kind of situation is it when a young Qian Jun keeps pestering a widow like me?”

Widow Cui flicked the handkerchief in her hand and then put on a coy act, completely disregarding Liu Huaixu’s darkening face, and continued speaking shamelessly: “Just now by the river, your Qian Jun was holding onto me and wouldn’t let me go. So many people saw it.”

Liu Huaixu remained silent. Widow Cui didn’t mind, and was instead in a good mood after saying everything she wanted to say.

She swayed her waist and left.

Liu Huaixu didn’t utter a sound, but she gripped the fabric in her hands so tightly that it creased, almost tearing it.

If she had spoken just now, Widow Cui would probably have been even more smug.

She had come over just to show off to her, and Liu Huaixu would never fall for her trap.

However, she did notice a silver bracelet that Widow Cui had deliberately shown.

After Widow Cui left, Liu Huaixu waited for a moment longer before Yu An finally returned. But before Yu An even entered the courtyard, Liu Huaixu clearly saw that Yu An’s clothes were dirty and her hair was disheveled.

Yu An was somewhat flustered by Liu Huaixu’s cold face. She didn’t know where to put the water bucket in her hands. She entered the courtyard and slowly shuffled towards Liu Huaixu, awkwardly smiling as she went: “I… came back after fetching water.”

She almost bit her tongue as she spoke.

The current Liu Huaixu reminded her of her high school homeroom teacher, who always had a cold face but a warm heart.

She didn’t know Liu Huaixu well, but today’s events made her feel that Liu Huaixu probably had two faces, one in public and one in private. Beneath her icy exterior, there might be a very warm heart.

The main reason Yu An didn’t have much psychological burden was that she wasn’t the original owner; she hadn’t done those things. So, even if Liu Huaixu told her to go to brothels in the future, she didn’t think much of it.

The original owner was such scum, so saying those things wasn’t excessive.

It was just being constantly cold that was uncomfortable.

Yu An scratched her head and said again, “I’m back.”

“I see.”

Liu Huaixu’s expression was indifferent, her gaze not even on Yu An, as if she were air.

Yu An: “…”

What was the situation now? What should she say?

Yu An’s mind went blank. She couldn’t stand people like Liu Huaixu; she just couldn’t respond to her words.

“I… where do I put the water?”

Having been asked too many times, Liu Huaixu was a bit annoyed and pointed casually: “Over there.”

She pointed to the area next to the stove inside the house. Yu An looked in that direction and only then noticed the interior layout.

Compared to the inside, the courtyard could be considered very good.

She had assumed that since the courtyard wasn’t too dilapidated, the inside shouldn’t be too bad either. She was wrong.

The stove inside was clearly plastered with mud, and there was straw mixed in. Such a stove would produce a lot of smoke when burning, and the room wouldn’t be very warm either.

Further inside, it was so dark that she couldn’t see clearly at all. The sun hadn’t even set yet, but no sunlight reached inside.

Yu An stared at the room for a long time. Liu Huaixu asked vigilantly, “What are you looking at?”

Liu Huaixu had bought this courtyard last year with the little money Old Madam Yu had given her. Seeing Yu An looking it up and down, she had a bad feeling.

Was Yu An going to sell the house again?

The Yu family’s former residence was once one of the best in the village, but Yu An had lost it through gambling.

Thinking of this, Liu Huaixu’s eyes showed a hint of melancholy. She wondered when Yu An would become sensible. In her remaining years, besides worrying about Yu An, she would have no peaceful days.

“Don’t you dare think about this house. The family has nothing left now, so you’d better behave yourself.”

Yu An was just thinking about whether she could renovate the house, so she took a couple of extra glances and was immediately reprimanded by Liu Huaixu. She felt a bit wronged and wanted to explain, but then she noticed Liu Huaixu’s attire.

When she came back earlier, Liu Huaixu was busy, and she herself hadn’t fully come to, so she hadn’t noticed Liu Huaixu’s clothing.

When she rescued her, Liu Huaixu was wearing a white ruqun, but now she was wearing linen clothes.

“Why aren’t you wearing that skirt anymore?”

Yu An asked without much thought. Although Liu Huaixu didn’t understand what she was trying to do, she still replied, “These are what I usually wear.”

Liu Huaixu usually had to work, and wearing a ruqun would be too wasteful, so she mostly wore linen clothes, which were more durable.

Although Yu An didn’t quite understand the styles of these clothes, she could tell the good from the bad. For instance, her own round-collared robe: she’d been wandering around the village for half a day and hadn’t seen many people wearing such good fabric.

It was likely that Yu An, for the sake of appearances, dressed lavishly when going out, while her wife at home wore simple linen.

“Do you know how to do needlework?”

Liu Huaixu heard her words and was a bit unsure, feeling that Yu An was insulting her.

How could there be a Kun Ze in this world who didn’t know needlework?

Whether one was good at it or not was another matter, but not knowing it would surely invite criticism.

Her face immediately grew colder.

Yu An deeply felt she had said the wrong thing again. She awkwardly chuckled before speaking her mind: “I mean, can you do needlework to alter the clothes on me, to… change them to your size!”

Although female Qian Yuans were not as tall and robust as male Qian Yuans, based on Yu An’s observations, their physique should be similar to that of ordinary men.

People’s heights nowadays were generally shorter. An ordinary man’s height would be similar to hers, while Liu Huaixu was clearly more petite, thus requiring size alteration.

Despite having integrated some social common sense, Yu An was still a modern person, and her way of thinking was hard to change. To Liu Huaixu, her way of speaking was thoughtless. The clothes Yu An was wearing were a common style for Qian Yuans, and even the fabric was somewhat stiff. If Liu Huaixu wore them, she would likely be ridiculed.

“You’d better take care of yourself.”

Liu Huaixu’s voice was indifferent. She had long given up hope on Yu An. As long as she didn’t lose the entire household, she could do whatever she wanted.

With that, Liu Huaixu went into the house to start a fire and prepare dinner, leaving Yu An alone in the courtyard…

—

Yu An was currently in an awkward situation, not knowing what to do.

Liu Huaixu’s hostility towards her was immense. Every word she spoke was met with a retort. Even if she wanted to show goodwill, there was no way.

As dusk fell, smoke rose from every household. Yu An stood in the courtyard in a daze for a while, wanting to go in and help Liu Huaixu, but Liu Huaixu was so fast that by the time she wanted to help, the meal was ready, and the dishes were mostly prepared.

Yu An was a picky eater. Liu Huaixu remembered that she used refined rice for cooking when Yu An was home, not the coarse rice she usually ate. The dishes, however, were very plain: vegetables from the garden and potatoes.

Liu Huaixu ate little and returned to her room after finishing.

Aside from the cooking area, the mud house had two rooms. One was the heated brick bed directly connected to the cooking fire. Liu Huaixu went into that room with the heated bed, and she closed the door tightly behind her, leaving no gap.

Yu An was hungry and tired, and she ate a lot. It was only after she finished eating that she realized she seemed to have been locked out by Liu Huaixu.

She quietly walked to her own room.

As soon as she entered, Yu An felt a chill. She hadn’t felt cold while eating by the stove, but now that she was inside, it was genuinely cold.

She looked at the bedding, which was clean.

Yu An sighed, only able to accept her fate.

—

For several days in a row, Yu An stayed obediently at home. This made Liu Huaixu feel uneasy. The last time Yu An stayed home like this was when she lost their home. At that time, Old Madam Yu had been dead for less than three months, and Yu An had almost squandered all the fertile land. Liu Huaixu thought she had changed her ways, but unexpectedly, after a few days at home, a group of people arrived and forcefully took their residence.

Liu Huaixu had no choice; Yu An’s name was clearly written on the bond.

Ten taels of silver owed.

Liu Huaixu had no choice. She couldn’t bear to let them beat Yu An to death, so she mortgaged as much fertile land and property as possible.

Only the current dozen acres of barren land remained.

With the remaining cash, Liu Huaixu bought this dilapidated house.

So, this comfortable period made Liu Huaixu even more uneasy.

Early one morning, Yu An woke up early and went to the river to fetch a bucket of water, hoping for a warm meal when she returned. Unexpectedly, Liu Huaixu hadn’t done anything and was standing in front of the house, waiting for her.

“What’s wrong?” Liu Huaixu’s face was not good, and Yu An’s heart thumped.

She had been subjected to Liu Huaixu’s coldness for the past few days, and Yu An was busy accepting reality. Now that she had mostly accepted reality, Liu Huaixu seemed even colder.

“Get inside quickly, it’s been bitterly cold these past two days.” According to the lunar calendar, it was late August, and the weather was getting colder. Seeing Liu Huaixu’s small frame standing at the doorway, Yu An felt a pang of pity. She tugged at her sleeve but couldn’t move her.

“What’s wrong with you? You’re not saying anything.”

Yu An’s clothes had also been changed to linen, she didn’t know where she found them. Liu Huaixu looked deeply at her, feeling that she was playing her part too well this time.

“Tell me, what trouble have you caused outside again? Is this house also going to be lost?”